


moving.

by pyroallerdyce



Series: captured moments. [29]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, One Shot Collection, Short One Shot, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:14:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24642307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyroallerdyce/pseuds/pyroallerdyce
Summary: It felt like they had literally just done this.It hadn’t even been five months since they’d moved all of Rey’s stuff into the apartment, and now it was all packed up again.  But this time Ben’s stuff was packed up too and, in a matter of hours, everything would be moved into their new house.Their newhouse.or:  It's moving day for Ben and Rey and Ben's terrified.(this will make little sense if you haven't read the rest of the captured moments series.)
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: captured moments. [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602691
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	moving.

**Author's Note:**

> and here we are the penultimate one. last one tomorrow.
> 
> and as always, if you like what you read, please let me know via a comment or kudos or bookmark so that I know I'm not writing into a void. enjoy!

It felt like they had literally just done this.

It hadn’t even been five months since they’d moved all of Rey’s stuff into the apartment, and now it was all packed up again. But this time Ben’s stuff was packed up too and, in a matter of hours, everything would be moved into their new house.

Their new _house._

To say Ben was terrified would be an understatement, and Rey knew it. 

They’d hired a moving company because they had the money to do so, and so Ben was standing in the kitchen, constantly reminding the movers that the appliances came with the apartment so they had to stay. It was something that was keeping him occupied while men that he didn’t know and didn’t trust took boxes full of his belongings and put them in a truck. 

And his bookshelves. They were taking his precious bookshelves too.

Ben felt like he couldn’t breathe when they started to move the first one. Rey had talked him out of disassembling them and then reassembling them at the new house, but he didn’t want them damaged. He had paid a lot of money for all of them because he wanted the best that there was. They were going to hold his most treasured possessions, his beloved books.

But he had a new treasured possession in the woman that he hoped would soon be his wife.

Wait.

That sounded horrible and it would probably get him slapped if he ever said it aloud in Rey’s presence. She was not a possession of his. She was not an object to possess. She was a woman to love, which Ben did, who for some reason loved him in return. 

She was the thing Ben treasured most in life.

There, that sounded better. 

Though Rey was not a thing. She was...everything.

“Ben?”

Ben snapped himself out of his thoughts to see Rey standing there, peering at him in some concern. “Hi, darling.”

“Are you ready to go turn in the keys?” Rey asked. “We need to get over to the house so they can start unloading our stuff.”

Ben blinked and glanced around, and that’s when he noticed that everything was out of the apartment. He walked past Rey out into the living room and looked around. It hadn’t looked that way since the day he’d moved into that apartment a decade ago, and as Ben stood there, he started to get really nostalgic. 

But then Rey’s hand slipped into his and squeezed gently, and he looked at her to still see the concern on her face. “Everything okay, honey?”

As he looked into her eyes, all of Ben’s nostalgic feelings faded away. Yeah, there were a lot of memories made in the apartment, but there were going to be better memories made at the new house.

Including the moment when he gave her the ring that was hidden in his pocket.

“Yes,” he said, taking four deep breaths. “Let’s go.”

Rey grinned at him and they walked towards the door, Ben taking one last look back in the apartment before closing the door and locking it for the last time. A stop in the building manager’s office to turn in the keys later, they were in the car, and Ben tried to ignore the fact that his hands were shaking. They were about to drive away from the place where Ben had called home for the last decade and go to their new house.

Their new _house_.

The house was great, really. Two stories with a finished basement. Three bedrooms so there was room for any future children they may have. A kitchen that had an island in it that Rey was really excited about. A room to put the bookshelves and create a library for Ben. A backyard that needed some work but they could turn into something really fun. It was amazing.

It was terrifying.

Rey reached over and took one of Ben’s hands, making him look at her. “It’s okay, honey. I promise.”

Ben took nineteen deep breaths before nodding. “This is just a big deal.”

“I know it is,” Rey said. “But it’s the next step forward. And you agreed that we were ready to take this step.”

Ben swallowed hard, thinking again about the ring in his pocket. “Still a big deal.”

Rey leaned over and kissed him. “I know it is. I thought that I was going to end up living in an apartment for the rest of my life. The fact that we’re doing this is exciting.”

“Also terrifying.”

Rey kissed him again. “More exciting than terrifying and you know it.”

Ben sat there, took twelve deep breaths, and then nodded. “Yeah, it is.”

“Then let’s go to the house, okay? The movers are probably wondering where we are.”

“Right,” Ben said, taking another four deep breaths and then starting the car. “They probably are.”

Rey settled in her seat as Ben backed the car out of the space, and he paused for another five deep breaths before glancing at the building in the rear-view mirror. He took one more deep breath, turned his eyes back to the road, and drove away.

The house was closer to the university than Ben would have liked it to be, but since it was highly unlikely that any students would be living on their street, he’d agreed that it was the right one as soon as they’d seen it for the first time. He followed the curved streets of the neighborhood to the house and found the movers were there waiting for them, and he really didn’t want to have to explain his own insecurities to these men as for why they were late.

But Rey was out of the car before he could blink, walking over to them and apologizing, telling them it took longer at the building manager’s office than they had thought it would. She was always doing things like that for him, knowing that he didn’t like being vulnerable with anyone, even her, though he had gotten a lot better at that. He loved her even more for doing things like that. 

Within twenty minutes, he was standing in a room and directing the movers at where to put his precious bookshelves while Rey was handling the rest. He knew he should be helping more, but he needed to be sure that his bookshelves were exactly where he wanted them to be and that they hadn’t been damaged at all. By the time the movers were finished with them, the bookshelves proved to be undamaged and Ben looked around the room. Once the shelves were filled with books, it would feel like home. 

He left the room and helped Rey with the rest, and then the movers were leaving and the two of them were alone in their new house surrounded by all of their stuff for the first time.

It wasn’t as terrifying as Ben had thought it would be. 

Rey watched Ben as he looked around, and when his gaze turned to her, she smiled at him. “Are you hungry?”

Ben glanced at his watch and realized what time it was. “We missed lunch.”

“Precisely.”

“We have no food. We have no refrigerator to have food in.”

“The refrigerator will be here tomorrow morning along with the other appliances we bought,” Rey reminded him. “Meaning that we need to go somewhere for lunch.”

“I’m surprised my mother isn’t over here already,” Ben said, still looking at his watch. “I’m sure she’s dying to.”

“I want to go to the café,” Rey said, and Ben looked up at that. 

“We spent practically all week there.”

“I know, but I would like to go to the café. I’m hungry. Besides, I know everyone is going to be curious how the move went, and I’d rather that we tell them now than be interrupted all evening by texts and phone calls about how it went.”

Ben groaned. “We’re going to get that from my family.”

“Which I don’t want to have happen. I want to christen this place.”

Ben coughed. “Rey!”

“What? You don’t?”

Ben closed his eyes and took eight deep breaths. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“And we established the other night that you won’t,” Rey pointed out. “I’m not going to let you stop us from having sex with that excuse anymore.”

Ben nodded after a moment. “Okay. I...okay.”

“Good. Let’s go eat.”

“Are you sure that you don’t want to go somewhere else?” Ben asked.

“Ben,” Rey said firmly. “Café.”

Ben nodded and reached into his pocket for the keys, feeling the ring instead. This was a good moment, right? They’d just moved into their house. Asking her now wouldn’t be entirely out of the question.

But it wasn’t his plan, and the plan was for the right moment, so he moved his hand out of his pocket and checked his other one for the keys. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Twenty minutes later, they were walking into the café to find Ben’s entire family sitting at tables along the back, and he turned towards Rey. “Did you plan this?”

“Yes,” Rey said, squeezing his hand. “This way, we can get all of the questions out of the way, they can come to see the house after lunch, and then we will be left alone this evening.”

Ben grinned. “You’re a genius.”

“You’re the genius out of the two of us, Professor,” Rey laughed, pulling Ben towards the back.

“I don’t like you saying that, you know,” Ben said as they walked. “You graduated with honors, Rey. Honors.”

“With a degree that can’t get me a job doing anything but waitressing,” Rey said as they approached the table. “That doesn’t count.”

“How many times must I tell you that achieving the milestone of a college degree is something that is incredible and that it is far better to get a degree that you care about instead of one that will make you the most money? Especially since this one reminds you of your mother,” Ben asked, making Leia look up. 

“Ben, Rey, I’m glad that you’re finally here. We were starting to wonder.”

“Sorry, Leia, but things took longer than expected,” Rey said, smiling at Ben as she sat down next to Padmé.

Ben stared at the fact that there was no open seat next to Rey for a moment before sighing and realizing that he had to sit next to his mother. “Ben,” Leia said. “Don’t just stand there. Come sit down.”

Rey smiled at him and so Ben walked around the table, sitting down next to Leia and immediately having a cup of coffee and a glass of water set in front of him. He looked up to see Rose there and he smiled. “Thank you, Rose.”

“You’re welcome, Ben. How’s the house?”

“It’s amazing,” Rey said, grinning. “You’ll have to come over after we’re unpacked so that you can see it.” 

“Definitely,” Rose said. “Everyone else has already ordered, so do you two know what you want?”

They both ordered their usuals and then Rey started talking to Padmé about how the sofa was looking in the living room and whether they really did need to paint the walls. Ben stayed silent as the conversation flowed around him, but he knew that Leia wasn’t going to let that stand for very long and so he wasn’t surprised to get an elbow in the ribs a few moments later.

Good, with that out of the way, now he could drink his coffee.

“Ben,” Leia said, leaning over to him, “how are you doing? I know what that apartment meant to you.”

“Better than expected,” Ben said honestly. “It is time for the next step and the house is definitely that.”

“And,” Leia said, dropping her voice, “how about the other next step?”

Ben took six long sips of his coffee before leaning over to her. “My plan is on schedule.”

“And you’re not going to tell me what this schedule is, are you?”

“Nope.”

“I am only trying to help you not screw this up, Benjamin.”

“I’m not going to,” Ben said confidently. “Trust me to do this my way, okay?”

“So long as you promise me that you don’t have that thing hidden somewhere where she is going to be able to find it while unpacking?”

“It is in my pocket,” Ben said without thinking, and he could immediately tell that had been a mistake because Leia stood up. 

“Excuse us, but I need to speak to my son in private for a moment.”

Ben took another sip of his coffee before standing and walking around the table, bending to kiss Rey. “She’s just being annoying and nosy. We’ll be right back.”

Everyone at the table laughed as Leia smacked Ben on the shoulder hard. “Benjamin!”

“Tell me I’m wrong,” Ben said as he rose back to his full height. “Try.”

Leia just huffed and grabbed his elbow, pulling him all the way out into the parking lot. “Show me this ring now.”

Ben sighed heavily, looked back at the café to judge whether they were far enough away for Rey not to see what was happening, and then reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring. “If you screw this up for me because you’re too excited, I will murder you.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say to your mother.”

“Well, this is not a nice thing for you to have done to me either,” Ben countered back. “Now I’m going to have to come up with something to tell Rey that we talked about that isn’t suspicious.”

“Just tell her that I wanted to know how things are going with work since you had told me that they were a bit of a struggle and that you didn’t want to talk about it with everyone,” Leia said seriously. “Now, show me that ring.”

Ben sighed, took eleven deep breaths, and then handed it over. He waited for some comment on how it wasn’t good enough, that he should have brought Leia with him to help pick it out, but Leia didn’t say anything. She just twirled it around in her fingers until Ben thought that he was going to lose his mind, and then she looked up at him with tears in her eyes, which just confused him. “Mama?”

“Oh, it’s really happening, isn’t it?” Leia said softly. “You’re really doing this. I’m really going to have a daughter.”

At that moment, it finally occurred to Ben why it was that Leia had always been so desperate for him to find the right woman. It wasn’t just so that he wouldn’t be alone. It wasn’t just so that she could have grandchildren.

It was so that she could finally have the daughter that she’d always wanted.

He was so happy that he’d be able to give her one as amazing as Rey.

Ben plucked the ring from Leia’s fingers and slid it back into his pocket before pulling her into his arms and hugging her as tightly as he dared. “I love you, Mama. And I finally get it.”

Leia laughed slightly. “I’m glad, Ben. But it’s more important that you’re happy.”

“I am, I promise,” Ben said, smiling at her when Leia pulled back. “Now stop crying before they want to know why!”

Leia reached up and wiped at her eyes. “Tell me my makeup is still alright.”

Ben took a good look at her and nodded. “It’s fine.”

“Good, because that would have made things really complicated,” Leia said, smiling. “I’m so happy for you, Ben.”

“I’m lucky that I frequent this place so much,” Ben said, laughing. “I don’t know how we ever would have met otherwise.”

“You would have,” Leia said confidently. “I know it.”

Ben nodded and glanced back at the café. “Now, please try to make sure you don’t give it away.”

“I won’t, I promise,” Leia said, closing her hand around Ben’s elbow. “I’ll just pass it off as being excited to see the house if I get called out on smiling too much.”

“Thank you.”

They walked back into the café and sat down, and of course, the first thing Luke asked was why Leia looked so happy. Before Leia could speak, Ben said it was because he got tenure, and then the entire table was in a celebratory mood that made the grin that wouldn’t leave Leia’s face make sense.

Ben could hardly take his eyes off Rey though. Knowing what she meant to his mother made her mean all that much more to him.

He really needed that Thursday to come already.


End file.
